Grab-bucket.



. L WATTERS GRAB BUCKET. APPLICATION man OCT 9, 1916.

Patented Apr. 22,1919.

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r llll W. E. WATTERS.

GRAB BUCKET. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9, I916.

Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

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W. E. WATTERS. GRAB BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9, 1916.

Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

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W. E. WATTERS.

GRAB BUCKET.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 9, 1916,

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WILLIAM E. WATTERS, OF MELROSE PARK, ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 22, 1919.

Original application filed January 10, 1912, Serial No. 670,442. Divided and this application filed October 9,

1916. Serial N0.124,444.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, WILLIAM E. WAT- TERS, a resident of Melrose Park, Cook county, Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Grab-Buckets, of which the following is a description, ref erence being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a grab bucket embodying my invention with thebucket open; Fig. 2 is a similar View, but showing the bucket closed; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the bucket with certain of the parts in section; Fig. l is a detail view of portions of the operating mechanism; Fig. 5 is a sectional plan taken on the line VV of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the lever finger detached; Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing the modification; Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the arrangement of the cables; and Fig. 9 is a detail view showing a further modification.

My invention has relation to grab buckets of the single line type, and is designed to provide a bucket which can be quickly attached and detached from the hook of a standard overhead crane, and more particularly consists in latch mechanism by which the bucket may be readily closed and opened. The nature of my invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown two difierent embodiments thereof and which will now be described, it being premised, however, that various changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

Referring to that form of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, the numeral 2 designates a top frame, which is rectangular in shape. Pivotally connected to each corner portion of this frame are depending links 3, whose lower ends are pivotally connected to arms 4:, through the medium of the rods or shafts 5. Rigidly secured to the outer end of each arm 4 is a bucket section or digging blade 6. The other end of each arm is attached to a lower frame. 7, by means of a pin 8. The lower frame 7 is also rectangular in shape, and

has fitted therein a pin 9 which is adapted to be engaged by mechanism presently to be described, through which the opening and closing of the bucket is controlled.

The numeral 10 designates a hood which is secured to and depends from the top frame 2, and which incloses the links, the lower frame and also the operating mech anism. WVhile this hood serves to protect certain parts of the mechanism its main function is to provide the necessary weight to secure the desired digging action of the bucket. It is not essential that this weight should be in the form of a hood, as any other form of weight carried by the top frame will answer the purpose equally well. The controlling mechanism consists of a guide block or housing 11, in which are journaled two sheaves 12. This housing is arranged to operate between the top frame 2 and the lower" frame 7 on the two vertical guiding columns, 13, which are securely attached at their lower ends to the lower frame 7, and which move freely through guides in the top frame 2. 1 1 designates cables, each of which is attached at one end to the top frame by means of the bolts 15, and passes thence downwardly and around one of the sheaves 12, and thence upwardly and is secured at its upper end to a yoke 16, having an eye 1?, adapted to be engaged by the hook of the overhead crane. In the drawing, I have shown the two cables as actually consisting of a single continuous cable extending over the yoke in a groove thereof, as will be best understood by reference to Fig. 8.

The numeral 18 designates two cylinders which are mounted on the top frame 2, and

which extend upwardly therefrom. These cylinders are open at their upper ends and are arranged to move over pistons 19, carried on the vertical rods 20, which form upward extensions of the guides 13. Each cylinder has at its lower end an inlet pipe 21, provided'with a suitable check valve 22, which will permit air to flow in and will prevent the OIItflOWiHg of air, and also has an escape pipe 23, provided with a hand valve 24, the degree of opening of which can be regulated at will. '25 and 26 designate two pivoted hook members carried by the housing 11, and which are adapted to engage the pin 9 of the lower frame 7, as mdicated in dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 4. One of the hook members is provided with a laterally and downwardly extending arm 27, pivoted thereto at 27 and which has a connection at 28, with an operating lever 29.,

to which is journaled a roller 30, adapted 1 by a spring 35.

When. it is desired to disengage the hook members 25 and 26 from the pin 9, the lever is raised in the manner hereinafter described, and since the lever is connected to the part 27 the latter will move about the point 27*, thereby causing the roller 30 to pass over the high point 31, terminating the depression31, which will'allow the hook members 25 and 26 to separate or open and thus disengagethemselves from the pin 9.

\Vhen it is. desired to have the hook members engage the pin 9 and preparatory to closing the bucket, the mechanism descends toward this pin, which is then stationary, until the finger 33 com cs in contact with the upper end of. the dogor pawl 34. W hen this contact takes place, the descending motion of the lever 29 is suspended or stopped, whilethe remainder of the controlling mechanism continues to descend. This causes the roller tobe raised over the high point 31, on the hook member 26, andallows the said hook members to open and pass over the pin 9. l/Vhen these members have passed over said pin, the finger 33 descends over the extreme point 349 of. the upper end of the pawl, which allows the parts 27 and 29 to come down into a horizontal position, thereby. locatingthe parts as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. The spring 35 allows the pawl or dog 34 to move backward when the lower frame 7 descends. upon the opening of the bucket, so that its point may pass the finger 33 of the lever 29.

The operation of the bucket is as follows: Supposing the parts to be in the open position shown in Fig. 1, in order to close the bucket, the housing 11 together with the parts carried thereby, is lowered by the crane until the finger 33 comes in contact with the dog or pawl 34, in the manner just described, thus stopping the descending motion of said lever, while the remainder of the mechanism continues to descend until the hook members 25 and 26 open and pass over. the. pin 9. When this occurs, the finger passes the point 34 on the pawl, allowing the mechanism to further descend and lock the hook members over the pin 9. All these parts are then raised in the vertical direction by means of .the crane attached to the yoke 16. This, in turn, causes the lower frame to beraised which in turn, causes the ends of the arms 4 to be rotated about the shafts 5 of the lower ends of the links 3, and since the other ends of the arms 4 are rigidly fastened to the blades of the bucket, the latter are caused to move. toward each other and eventually come, into contact or into closed position, as shown in Fig. 2. To open the bucket, the lever 29 is operated to cause the roller 30. to pass over the high point 31 on the hook member 26 thereby allowing the hook members to open and disengage the pin 9. This permits the lower frame 7 to descend and the arms 4, together with the blades 6, to revolve on the shafts 5, to come into theopen position and discharge the contents of t-hefbucket.v

The lever 29 may be operated in any, suitable manner. In the drawing, I, have shown for this purpose an actuating lever 36, arranged underneath, the outer; arm of the lever 29, and having an operating cord or cable 37 connected thereto. When thelever 36 is raised it comes in. contact with the other arm 0 the lever 29, and inturn raises that lever.

The function of thecylinders 18and pistons 19 is solely to act as shock, absorbers when the bucket opens in discharging itscontents. These pistons and cylinders. act in the nature of dash pots,the esca ,e of. air from the cylinders being regulated. ymeans of the hand valves 24. Thisshockr'absorbing feature is an extremely important-one in the successful operation of. asingleline grab bucket, since without a. device of: this kind there is a severe rackingactionboth on the parts of thebucket and;on the.operating crane. It is not, essential. that. these cylinders should be attached to the. topframe in such position that, the pistoinrods shall form extensions of the, guiding columns, since obviouslythe pistons-can be,,at tached to the lower frame in any suitable manner, and the cylinders can. be suitably attached to the upper frame.

While these .cyliliders give thebest results in absorbing shocks, in the openingof the bucket, Iliave also obtained very. gbodresults by the useof springs38 such as shownin Fig. 9, which are placed around ,tliespiston rods between theupper side of, the". top frame and the pistons.)

The modificationshown i1 1 Fig; 77is .si1ni lar to that shown in the other, figures, buthas been designed more especially for use-where the cranerunways are lowor. the material being handled is to. be piled as highj as possible. To this end, theshocleabsorbing cyh inders 40, insteadv of being mounted jori jth'e top frame are 30 arranged 'asto extendfpar. tially below said frame. In this figure, I have shown the crane. hook 41 as engaged with the yoke 42, corresponding to the yoke 16, first described. 43 designates the usual suspending ropes or cables for this hook.

The advantages of my invention will be apparent to those familiar with the operation of buckets of this character, since it provides a single line grab bucket which can be quickly and conveniently operated from ordinary cranes.

No change is necessary in the winding or arrangement of the crane, since the bucket is operated by a limited vertical movement of the hook block or yoke 16. This also en ables the bucket to be used underneath crane runways in which there is a relatively small head room.

The bucket sections are positively opened and closed through a powerful leverage action which assists the weight of the sections.

What I claim is:

1. Grab bucket mechanism, consisting of an upper frame, a lower frame movable relatively to the upper frame, an operative connection between the frames consisting of a pin attached to one of the frames and a split eye attached to the other of said frames, the split eye consisting of two hook members normally locked together in closed position by links pivoted to said hook members and to each other to form a toggle joint, and mechanism for allowin the eye to open for release or engagement 0 the pm.

2. Grab bucket mechanism consisting of an upper frame, a lower frame movable relatively to the upper frame, an operative connection between the frames comprised of a pin attached to the lower frame a split eye connected to the upper frame, the split eye consisting of two depending members havin recesses in their lower ends normally loc ed together, and pawl and lever mechanism connected with the lower and upper frames respectively for allowing the said recesses to engage and release the said pin.

WILLIAM E. WATTERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patenta, Wamhlngton, D. Q. 

